Dawn of a New Era

Why does she always burrow into the quilt?

Chen Shouyi helplessly removed the quilt from her again.

Seeing her sleepy state, he originally planned to give her a bath, but decided against it upon further thought.

He returned the various sizes of glass beads, crystal balls, little clothes, and small mirrors from the bed to the drawer.

There was one thing about the Shell Lady that Chen Shouyi was quite satisfied with.

She wouldn't throw these things everywhere; she treated them like treasures, always arranging them neatly.

...

After finishing all this, he went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After returning, Chen Shouyi extinguished the kerosene lamp and lay on his back on the bed.

The wounds on his body had already healed, and even his weakness had recovered.

Outside, the faint jetting sound of steam trucks passing by on the road and the low rumbling of helicopters flying could be heard.

Tonight, Hedong City was destined to be sleepless.

Chen Shouyi blankly stared at the ceiling above, unable to find a hint of sleep.

Many times, he intentionally avoided thinking about the fate of humanity.

For him, it was simply too heavy!

As the chief security advisor of Jiangnan Province, he could see more than ordinary people.

Cults, invasions from other worlds, Barbarian Gods, the entire Jiangnan Province had been filled with war and death over the past year, with humans only barely coping, defensively on the back foot, and in just one year, the number of deaths had far exceeded ten million.

Although humans were barely maintaining the situation, they were continuously bleeding.

Just like the war over in Dongning, it was still in a stalemate. Compared to the strategically flexible Barbarian Gods, humans lacked the force to actively attack other worlds. The true form of the God of Hunting had always been avoiding detection, prolonging the war.

And Jiangnan Province was just a corner of Great Xia Country; other places probably weren't much better.

Chen Shouyi gently sighed and stopped thinking about these things.

Thinking too much was of no benefit, only adding to worries.

He entered a meditative state to sense the energy vortex in his dantian, and was slightly surprised.

He discovered that this time, the energy from the transformation was virtually unaffected.

"Does it first consume physical strength during the transformation?" Chen Shouyi mused.

That turned out to be good news.

Recovering physical strength is easy; replenishing the energy vortex is hard.

If the danger was such that even the Giant Transformation couldn't resolve it, having physical strength left wouldn't matter.

Chen Shouyi closed his eyes, cleared his mind of distractions, and began practicing static meditation refining his body.

...

At dawn, Chen Shouyi was already awake and found the Shell Lady had burrowed into the quilt again.

In such hot weather, why does she keep burrowing into the quilt?

He was somewhat speechless, so he simply took the quilt off the bed and put it into the wardrobe.

"I don't want honey!" The Shell Lady mumbled, her small hand unconsciously clutching at the air, then turned over and continued sleeping.

After finishing washing up, Chen Shouyi went downstairs to see Father Chen pushing the tricycle, ready to go to the market with Mrs. Chen.

"Shouyi, when did you get back?" Mrs. Chen asked in surprise.

"I got back at dawn, saw it was so late and didn't notify you," Chen Shouyi said.

"What happened yesterday? The Safe Zone was on lockdown, and so many helicopters were deployed?" Chen Dawei asked.

"Searching for an infiltrating Barbarian!" Chen Shouyi said casually.

"Did you find it?" Mrs. Chen asked quickly.

"He got away. You all should be careful for a while," Chen Shouyi said.

Although the God of Hunting seemed to be preparing to leave Hedong, being cautious never hurt. Who knows if they might double back.

"What's risky about it, we used to worry about being hit by cars when walking, just a Barbarian, not a Barbarian God, it's not like we're that unlucky," Chen Dawei said cheerfully, unconcerned.

If it had been last year in Dongning and news of a Barbarian on the loose came out, it would have guaranteed the entire city was on edge, with a family of four staying obediently at home, not daring to step out at all, but now, they had grown accustomed to it.

Even Barbarian God invasions had occurred in Hedong, not to mention a single Barbarian.

Chen Shouyi didn't try to persuade them further; it was a minor risk after all. When luck was bad, anywhere was dangerous.

...

Soon after returning to the living room, Chen Xingyue came downstairs.

"Brother, you're back!"

"Yeah!"

Chen Shouyi responded.

After a few exchanges, they sat in the dining room to have breakfast. Chen Shouyi remembered something, swallowed his food, and asked, "How's your recent progress in strength?"

"Last time bench pressing, I got to 350 kilograms," Chen Xingyue said modestly, but her brows couldn't hide her pride.

Chen Shouyi couldn't help but show a slight surprise. Although this figure was insignificant to him, it was indeed impressive.

To know, the standard for male martial artists was only 300 kilograms, and the female standard was lower, only 250 kilograms. This meant his sister's prowess exceeded the martial artist standard by 100 kilograms.

Chen Shouyi calmly praised, "Already so high, doesn't that mean you can take the martial artist assessment?"

Hearing this, Chen Xingyue's face finally couldn't hold her modesty, and she haughtily responded:

"Of course, every month I still have an increase of over ten kilograms, if it wasn't for the teacher saying I needed to continue honing my skills to pass in one go, I would have already taken it."

An increase of over ten kilograms in strength every month is no small feat!

Even though she's practicing the new version of the Thirty-Six Body Refining Techniques, this progress is definitely amazing.

To step into the ranks of martial artists, many have been stuck at their level for five or six years, or even more than a decade.

It could be that his sister was originally young, at only sixteen, still growing and developing, or it could be that consuming the Primordial Divine Blood had altered her physique, allowing her to still progress quickly after becoming a martial artist.

If she continued like this, although her progress would likely slow down, she could certainly become a Grand Martial Artist within five years.

"Let's train together later!" Chen Shouyi said expressionlessly.

"Bring it on then!" Chen Xingyue gave him a disdainful look, as if she had long seen through everything.

Wasn't it just feeling pressured, trying to bully me while I haven't become a Grand Martial Artist yet?

...

Ten minutes later.

Chen Shouyi had once again quelled his sister's arrogant spirit, carried the Shell Lady, and walked out the door, feeling refreshed.

The lockdown had been lifted on the streets, with an appearance of looseness but underlying tension.

Chen Shouyi saw that many soldiers stood by the windows of various buildings, some even setting up machine guns, particularly near the City Government area, where the security was even stricter and tighter.

Chen Shouyi stopped at a newsstand to buy a newspaper.

He glanced through it.

Lei Ruiyang's obituary was prominently featured, while Xiao Changming's death seemed forgotten, with not a single mention.

It made sense though, a newspaper heavily promoting a model battle hero, in reality possessed by a Barbarian God, causing numerous deaths. Whether a simple death announcement or the revelation of truth, it would be a blow to the hard-won morale of the people.

Perhaps those above also didn't know how to close the situation, so they simply let time erase it.